The News Review:

- Darfur will be the AU’s trial by fire
- Charter schools reports released
- VIKTOR BOUT: FROM INTERNATIONAL OUTLAW TO VALUED PARTNER
- Infant Deaths Declining In US Better Treatments For Preemies And…

Darfur will be the AU’s trial by fire
Cape Times – Cape Times (subscription) – Jul 29, 2004
Every country from Somalia on the north-east tip of the continent to Namibia in the south-west was caught up, directly or indirectly, in wars – mostly small, nasty and very lethal. Few fighters die in Africa’s wars; the biggest killers are hunger and disease, when millions of poor people are driven from their homes with nothing to support themselves. Meanwhile in West Africa, Sierra Leone, Liberia and great swathes of Nigeria were embroiled in vicious local conflicts. Today, Darfur in western Sudan is the only full-scale war in Africa. Indeed the “main” conflict in Sudan – the five-decade war between north and south – is close to resolution. A ceasefire has been maintained more or less for over a year and final agreement is close. Conflicts flicker on in Congo and Somalia, Cote d’Ivoire could explode again at any minute and parts of Nigeria seem constantly on the brink of catastrophe, but elsewhere, compared to a decade ago, millions more Africans are able to get on with their lives without fear of attack…
This is its war and unilateral action by outsiders trying to save Africa will cause resentment and undermine this new organisation’s role. British troops should certainly be kept away from the front line, not just for their own safety, but because, as British, they could be a target for Islamists. Darfur is no Sierra Leone. There, British troops were welcomed and trusted, but Darfur is one of the areas in Africa where British troops would not be welcomed because of their role in Iraq. That is an added complication Darfur does not need. The same goes for the Americans. Britain’s role should be to provide logistics and perhaps airborne surveillance.

Charter schools reports released
Central Michigan Life – Jul 29, 2004
"From my perspective, it’s another report that shows us things that need to be worked on. "In the WMU report, it showed four schools – licensed by CMU – were at the time, showed a deficit. These schools include: New School for Creative Learning in Grand Rapids, Sierra Leone Educational Outreach Academy in Detroit, Thomas-Gist Academy in Westland, and West Michigan Academy for Environmental Sciences in Walker. Goenner said these schools are responsible for solving their own financial problems. He said currently, two of the four schools are in operation. Both Thomas-Gist Academy and West Michigan Academy for Environmental Sciences have plans approved by the Michigan Department of Education to eliminate their deficits, Goenner said. But, West Michigan’s plan is going to be eliminated over three years and Thomas-Gist’s deficit will be eliminated at the end of the 1998-1999 year, he said.

VIKTOR BOUT: FROM INTERNATIONAL OUTLAW TO VALUED PARTNER
Jamestown Foundation – Jul 29, 2004
Taylor also had ties with South African and Balkan organized crime rings. It was a perfect opportunity for Bout to expand his network of contacts. Both the FBI and the United Nations-supported Special Court for Sierra Leone have confirmed Taylor’s al-Qaeda connections. In return for supplying weapons to Liberia’s former strong man before he was forced into exile in 2003 and Zaire’s Mobutu, Bout received diamonds and precious minerals, highly fungible commodities on the international market. Further south, United Nations estimates that in running hundreds of tons of Bulgarian munitions to UNITA guerrillas in Angola, the Russian arms dealer made at least $15 million. [4] Researchers for the British-based charity Oxfam international estimate the African trade in illegal arms to be worth around $50 million annually, about half of the global total. Bout was a graduate of the Institute for Military Interpreters in Moscow, where in addition to his Russian and Uzbek, he picked up English, French and Portuguese.

Infant Deaths Declining In US Better Treatments For Preemies And…
CBS News – Jul 29, 2004
survey, with three infant deaths per 1,000. Those countries were among the 33 that scored better than the United States. At the bottom of the rankings are Angola, Niger, Liberia and Afghanistan. The worst was Sierra Leone, with 182 deaths per 1,000. MMIV, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.